1. Field of the Invention
The invention is concerned with fishing lures, and more particularly with fishing lures which are useful for deep fishing, shallow fishing, and trolling, and in which live, dead and artificial bait may be used.
2. Prior Art
A great number of fishing lures exist. These take a number of different shapes. Generally, different fishing lures are used for deep fishing than are used for shallow fishing or trolling because of the different properties needed in a lure for each of these types of fishing. Lures which are capable of holding live bait are generally of the simple hook variety whereby the hook is pierced through the live bait which is held on the hook by barbs or the like. In such hooks, the head of the live bait is fully exposed and the minnow, anchovy or the like which is being used as live bait, can easily open its mouth thus providing a non-attractive appearance for predator fish, and also leading to relatively fast drowning of the bait itself. Further, if a live anchovy, or the like, is to be used in a trolling operation, it is generally necessary to tie it relatively securely to a hook to keep it from being dragged loose therefrom.
It would be highly advantageous to provide an improved lure which could hold live bait therein, and wherein, for example, the head of an anchovy or the like would be kept within the lure so that the anchovy could not open its mouth wide, thereby presenting an unattractive target to predator fish and more quickly drowning and whereby also it is not necessary to tie on the anchovy to the lure to keep it from being torn loose during trolling or the like. It would be of a further advantage if such a lure would allow for very fast loading of an anchovy or other live bait therein, so that such a lure could be more easily used in commercial fishing operations. It would be of further advantage still to have a fishing lure which could be used as well with dead bait such as pieces of pork rind and the like as with live bait. It would be still more advantageous if such a lure could have its buoyancy adjusted internally whereby it could be used for shallow fishing in which it is jigged up and down and in deep fishing whereby it is weighted to sink to a relatively large depth, as well as for trolling. Another advantage would be to have such a lure which includes adjustment means thereon, whereby during a trolling operation the lure can be adjusted to seek different levels in the water as are required for success in catching different types of fish. The present invention provides a fishing lure which in its various embodiments has all of the above advantages.